and he did have good offers. I was just thinking that he would stick close to home and when kids wash out of a big program they don't usually end up at a decent size program. Now maybe as a Freshman he has a much better chance of landing on his feet at a BCS school.

Of course as I'm typing this I know Turner ended up at WVU and I'm sure there's a dozen other examples of kids landing on their feet.

Wish him the best of luck in life. Respect the fact that he didn't drag it out over the course of a couple of meh years before transferring. This frees up a spot for someone who is better suited for Michigan.

What does his departure have to do with Nick Hill? As someone else noted here, it does not appear that he was ever offered by UMich. Not offering White != offering Hill.

Scholarships need to be used widely, but I have to admit that the other response here (bringing in a local kid who's a lifelong Michigan fan) makes some sense. By reputation Hill is also a high-character guy.

Anyway, my understanding is that Hill's skills were considered 3-star across-the-board (speed, strength, vision, elusiveness, etc.) and that his best chance for success would be at a mid-major. Compare him to Vincent Smith, who might have inferior speed and strength but high D-1 elusiveness. It's early. We'll see...

During his recruitment last year, there were assertions that he had some unspecified character issues, and I think one or both of his brothers got into some trouble up at MSU. However, Austin and his parents appeared live on-air on WTKA after he verbaled or signed, and he sounded like a decent kid. His dad is or was the principal at AA Pioneer, and he sounded like a no-nonsense guy. Maybe AW will transfer to EMU—RE will love the fact that he's been raised in a two-parent family.

Even if Shaw doesn't meet the grade, the team still has Hopkins, Smith, Cox, and (hopefully) Toussaint. Certainly not the depth chart we all thought at the beginning of the year, but still okay. Plus, you could always see about dragging one of our slots (like Grady) if need be as a last option.

"This is a program in transition, this is a program that's going back to hard-nosed, big-boy football," Brandon said. "We're in the process of putting the pieces in place to afford us to do that consistently and effectively.

Hate to see anyone leave, but it's a fairly deep position with similar looking players. Sam Webb keeps saying how great the talent coming out of Ohio next year is and that OSU will not have many scholarships to offer. It would be nice to have more schollys available to fill out the roster with players at positions of greater need.

Let me try to make this point in a pro-Michigan way: We seem to be having more attrition than I can remember (save possibly for the Moeller era). Dorsey and Whitty were academics, Turner was motivation (I guess), and White - who knows. I understood Carr's guys leaving b/c of the change in style. However, these are RR's guys. I think that Rich Rod and the coaches need to take a hard look to see if changes need to be made. I get that we are loaded at running back. That's not the point. On a team that needs depth, we are seeing a lot of guys leaving. It simply can't be good. Nor can it all be blamed on the kids.

I am not trying to blame RR. I am just saying that there seems to be an issue that he needs to addressed. I hope he does so, rather than digging in his heals.

“Your satisfaction lies in your illusions/ But your delusions are yours and not mine”

I have no problem with players leaving the team. If they aren't willing to put in the effort to get better, let them go. I think a lot of these transfers have to do with the fact that RR runs a tough program, and by no means should they change it.

Now, I would love to have the guys that didn't get in because of academic purposes, but that's not RR's fault. He wasn't the only coach who recruited these kids, and he can't take their tests for them.

Neither Dorsey or Witty left, those guys would both be at Michigan if they could. Also, it sounds like Austin White did not leave the team by choice. There really haven't been a lot of guys leaving recently, and Michigan had plenty of attrition under Carr (as every program does).